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ADDRESS 


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HIS  EXCELLENCY 


William  B.  Washburn, 


TO    THE   TWO  BRANCHES 


Legislature  of  Massachusetts. 


JANTTAEY  6,  1872. 


I 


BOSTON: 

WRIGHT    &    POTTER,    STATE    PRINTERS, 

79  Mu,K  Stkekt  (Counkr  ok  Feoeral). 

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p.tsjjgg^oia^iVy-'''^^-^ 


VCSE  LfBRARY 

SENATE No.  1. 

ADDRESS 

OF 

Sis  ExceKenc^ 

WILLIAM    B.    WASHBURN, 

TO  THE  TWO  BRANCHES 


LEGISLATUEE  OF  MASSACHUSETTS, 


January  5,  1872. 


BOSTON: 

WRIGHT    &    POTTER,    STATE    PRINTERS, 
79  Milk  Street  (corner  of  Federal). 

1872. 


Digitized  by  the  ijiternet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/addressofwashburOOwashiala 


ADDRESS. 


Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  of 

the  House  of  Representatives  : 

The  people,  in  accordance  with  the  constitution 
and  laws,  have  committed  the  varied  interests  of 
the  Commonwealth  to  our  care  for  the  coming 
year.  Many  of  133  assume  the  responsibilities  of 
the  several  positions  to  which  we  have  been  elected 
with  little  or  no  practical  experience  in  the  special 
work  we  shall  be  required  to  perform;  but  all  of 
us,  I  doubt  not,  are  ready  to  begin  with  an  honest 
purpose  and  a  firm  resolve  to  give  whatever  is 
possible  of  energy  and  ability  to  the  acceptable 
discharge  of  our  duties.  Grateful  to  Him  who 
has  permitted  us  to  enter  upon  this  new  year  under 
such  bright  auspices, — our  multiform  industries 
crowned  with  success,  a  plentiful  harvest  garnered 
in  the  barns  of  the  husbandmen,  health  and  happi- 


4  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

ness  generally  prevailing  among  all  classes  of 
citizens,  peace  and  prosperity  not  only  within  our 
own  borders  but  in  nearly  every  portion  of  the 
land, — let  us  not  forget  to  seek  His  guidance  for 
the  fiiture,  and  endeavor  so  to  acquit  ourselves 
in  these  tasks  that  we  may  have  His  approbation. 

THE   STATE   FINANCES. 

The  financial  condition  of  the  Commonwealth, 
always  a  matter  of  special  interest  to  her  citizens, 
indicates  continued  advancement  in  local  prosperity 
and  strength,  as  well  as  in  the  more  extended 
spheres  of  public  growth  and  relation.  Maintain- 
ing, as  heretofore,  an  unimpaired  credit  at  home 
and  abroad, — the  result  of  wise  policy  and  official 
integrity, — the  practice  of  economy  and  retrench- 
ment will  demand  rigid  adherence  in  the  present 
and  future,  as  it  has  in  the  past.  Mutual  and  har- 
monious cooperation,  stimulated  by  watchful  and 
jealous  regard  for  the  public  weal,  should  command 
earnest  and  loyal  service  in  every  legislative  and 
executive  capacity.  Such  necessity  will  ever  exist, 
especially  in  connection  with  the  monetary  interests 
of  the  State,  the  present  condition  of  which  is 
briefly  set  forth  in  the  results  herewith  sub- 
mitted:— 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  5 

Of  the  funded  liabilities  outstand- 
ing January  1,  1870,  amounting 
to 127,128,164  00 

The  following,  have  been  liqui- 
dated : — 

Western  Eailroad  loan,  $761,816  00 
Eastern  Eailroad  loan,  50,000  00 
Union  Fund  loan,  .  184,800  00 
Massachusetts       War 

Fund  loan,       .         .    953,500  00 


1,950,116  00 


Balance  remaining,  .         .  |25,178,048  00 

During  the  year,  additions  have 
been  made  by  new  issues  of 
scrip,  viz. : — 

For  the  Troy  and 
Greenfield  Eailroad 
and  Hoosac  Tun- 
nel, .        .        13,452,372  00 

For  the  Massachusetts 

War  Fund  loan,      .     999,944  00 


4,452,316  00 


Making  the  total,     .         .         .  $29,630,364  00 


6  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

Of  the  unfunded  liabilities,  amount- 
ing to      .         .        $1,142,717  93 

There   has  been  can- 
celled,     .         .          1,082,717  93 
Balance  remaining, r        $60,000  00 


Making  the  total  present  liabilities, 
exclusive  of  small  unpaid  bal- 
ances,          129,690,364  00 

Represented   under  their    summary   classification, 
the  following  exhibit  appears: — 

Present  Funded  Debt, 
Railroad  loans,    .      |1 2,1 24,476  00 
War  loans,  .         16,434,888  00 

Ordinary  loans,  .  1,071,000  00 

129,630,364  00 

Present  Unfunded  Debt. 
Loan  to  W.  &  F.  Shanly  (conditional) ,      60,000  00 


Total  funded  and  unfunded  debt,  |29,690,364  00 

It  will  be  observed  that  while  the  unfunded  lia- 
bilities have  been  nearly  cancelled,  the  net  increase 
of  the  funded   debt   has   been   |2,502,200.     This 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  7 

increase  accrues  mainly  from  the  negotiation  of  a 
further  instalment  of  the  loan  authorized  under  the 
Acts  of  1868  and  1869,  in  aid  of  the  Troy  and 
Greenfield  Kailroad  and  Hoosac  Tunnel.  The 
remainder  of  this  scrip,  upwards  of  $2,000,000,  is 
also  in  process  of  negotiation  abroad. 

The  new  issue  of  scrip  on  account  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts War  Fund  loan  has  been  made  in  accord- 
ance with  the  provisions  of  chapter  91  of  the  Acts 
of  1869,  which  authorized  the  Treasurer  and  Re- 
ceiver-General, under  the  direction  of  the  Governor 
and  Council,  to  retire  such  portion  of  this  five- 
twenty  loan  as  might  be  deemed  advisable,  substi- 
tuting therefor  the  new  scrip. 

Both  of  these  new  issues  of  scrip  (five  per  cent, 
sterling)  have  been  negotiated  on  favorable  terms, 
and  are  redeemable  in  twenty  years  from  date. 
Of  the  proceeds  of  the  Troy  and  Greenfield  and 
Hoosac  Tunnel  loan,  about  $2,000,000  remain  in 
hand  for  accruing  emergencies. 

Of  the  three  remaining  railroad  loans,  the  IS^or- 
wich  and  Worcester,  the  Boston,  Hartford  and 
Erie,  and  the  Troy  and  Greenfield  and  Hoosac 
Tunnel, —  the  redemption  of  the  first,  amounting 
to  $400,000,  is  fully  provided  for  by  the  sinking 
fund  established  for  that  purpose,  the  corporation 


8  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

paying  its  interest.  Tlie  redemption  of  the  Boston, 
Hartford  and  Erie  loan  ($3,599,024:)  is  also  be- 
lieved to  be  secured  by  its  appropriate  sinking 
fund  and  its  probable  accumulations.  The  reim- 
bursement of  any  portion  of  the  interest  on  this 
loan,  now  amounting  to  more  than  $200,000  annu- 
ally, including  premium  and  cost  of  exchange,  is 
still  contingent  upon  the  proceeds  of  the  "  Berdell 
Mortgage  Bonds,"  of  which  the  Commonwealth 
retains  possession.  The  loan  in  aid  of  the  Troy 
and  Greenfield  Railroad  and  Hoosac  Tunnel, 
assumed  by  the  Commonwealth,  and  now  increased 
to  $8,125,452,  and  maturing  from  1888  to  1894,  has 
no  other  security  than  the  franchise  of  the  property 
and  a  sinking  fund  of  nearly  $700,000,  its  income 
in  1871  amounting  to  $36,963. 

The  several  sinking  funds  as  now  established 
amount  to  $13,000,000,  including  the  present  mar- 
ket value  of  their  investments.  With  this  provision 
of  nearly  forty-four  per  cent,  of  outstanding  loans 
already  secured  in  available  cash  assets,  having  an 
average  annual  income  accumulation  of  a  million 
of  dollars,  together  with  large  and  certain  additions 
to  be  realized  from  the  sales  of  public  lands  and 
from  other  productive  resources,  it  becomes  at  once 
apparent  that  the  Commonwealth  is  well  prepared 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  9 

for  the  prompt  liquidation  at  maturity  of  all  her 
existing  liabilities  without  resort  to  taxation.  Even 
should  a  deficit  occur  in  any  of  the  sinking  funds, 
a  remedy  would  easily  be  found  in  the  proper  legis- 
lative sanction  for  a  transfer  of  accruing  excess 
from  other  funds. 

During  the  present  year,  $550,000  more  of  the 
present  funded  debt  will  mature,  viz.:  Of  the 
State  Almshouse  loan,  $100,000;  of  the  loan  of 
1861  for  funding  the  public  debt,  $100,000  — the 
last  of  that  loan;  and  of  the  Union  Fund  loan, 
$350,000.  The  payment  of  the  remaining  balance 
of  the  loan  of  1861,  here  referred  to,  will  extin- 
guish the  last  item  in  the  funded  debt  of  the  State 
for  which  no  sinking  fund  or  other  special  provis- 
ion exists.  The  other  sums  enumerated  will  be 
paid  from  their  appropriate  sinking  funds. 

Financial  Estimates  for  1872. 

From  the  most  reliable  data  now 
accessible,  the  ordinary  revenues 
of  the  present  year  niay  be  esti- 
mated at $2,300,000  00 

This  amount,  with  the  cash  on  hand 
applicable  therewith,  may  give 
the  treasury  .         .         .         .  $3,000,000  00 

2 


10  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

The  most  intelligent  estimate  of 
the  ordinary  expenses  of  the 
year,  now  possible,  amounts  to 
nearly |4,400,000  00 

These  estimates,  however,  do  not  include  any 
provision  for  special  grants  by  the  Legislature, 
nor  for  any  temporary  emergencies  liable  to 
occur.  It  will  be  apparent,  therefore,  that  the 
deficit  to  be  provided  for  by  a  State  tax  will 
vary  from  one  and  a  half  to  two  millions  of 
dollars. 

THE    WAR  DEBT. 

With  the  exception  of  railroad  loans  and  a  com- 
paratively small  fraction  of  liability  on  account  of 
the  ordinary  expenses  of  the  government,  the  pres- 
ent outstanding  war  debt  ($16,434,888),  covering 
the  entire  balance  of  the  funded  loans,  matures  in 
various  amounts  extending  over  a  period  of  twenty- 
two  years,  the  last  falling  due  in  1894.  Of  this 
amount,  only  $3,400,000,  the  remainder  of  the  Union 
Fund  loan,  will  mature  during  the  present  decade, 
the  largest  instalment,  nearly  half,  becoming  pay- 
able in  187S,  and  the  balance  in  smaller  sums,  com- 
mencing with  the  present  year.     Of  course  it  is 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  11 

well    understood    that   full    provision    is    already 
secured  for  the  liquidation  of  the  whole. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Union  Fund  loan 
was  created  for  the  payment  of  war  expenses 
chargeable  to  the  United  States.  The  aggregate 
amount  so  charged,  exclusive  of  expenditures  for 
coast  defences,  was  $3,752,928.96,  of  which 
$3,669,455.11,  or  ninety-eight  per  cent.,  has  been 
already  reimbursed.  Of  the  remainder,  now  in 
process  of  adjustment  under  the  supervision  of 
Col.  Gardiner  Tufts,  who  has  collected  several  in- 
stalments of  the  original  claim,  nearly  the*  entire 
sum  has  been  already  allowed.  In  addition  to  this 
claim,  nearly  a  quarter  .of  a  million  of  dollars, 
expended  for  coast  defences,  will  probably  be 
realized  at  an  early  day. 

THE   PUBLIC   LANDS. 

It  is  now  more  than  twenty  years  since,  by  her 
legislative  and  executive  authority,  the  Common- 
wealth assumed  the  special  and  responsible  task  of 
protecting  her  legitimate  interests  in  her  own  pub- 
lic lands.  The  proceeds  of  sales  from  that  por- 
tion embraced  within  the  limits  of  the  Back  Bay 
have  thus  far  amounted  to  nearly  $3,600,000; 
while     the     total     expenses     of    filling,    grading 


12  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

and  other  improvements  have  been  nearly  $1,- 
550,000,  exclusive  of  the  compensation  and  ex- 
penses of  the  commissioners,  which,  added,  would 
make  the  entire  cost  nearly  $1,600,000,  or  less  than 
forty-five  per  cent.  This  has  been  paid  from  the 
moiety  of  proceeds  of  sales  applicable  by  law  to 
that  purpose,  leaving  besides  a  handsome  surplus 
available  with  the  other  moiety  for  the  financial 
purposes  of  the  Commonwealth.  Of  the  lands 
filled  and  graded,  upwards  of  296,000  square  feet 
were  given  by  the  Legislature  to  the  city  of  Bos- 
ton aifd  the  Institute  of  Technology  ;  and  of  the 
two  millions  of  dollars  netted  in  cash  to  the  trea- 
sury, nearly  a  quarter  of  -a  million  has  been  appro- 
priated in  aid  of  various  educational  and  scientific 
institutions.  Under  legislative  authority,  the  re- 
mainder has  been  transferred  to  several  of  the 
trust  and  sinking  funds,  chiefly  for  the  redemption 
of  the  funded  debt,  towards  which  large  and  timely 
contribution  has  thus  been  rendered. 

The  filling  and  prepai-ation  of  the  remaining 
lands  in  this  locality  will  probably  be  completed 
during  the  present  year,  thus  securing  the  advan- 
tage of  fortuitous  demand.  The  sales  of  the  past 
year,  amounting  to  upwards  of  $600,000,  have 
been  efiected  under  such  favorable  conditions,  as 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  13 

to  warrant  the  anticipation  of  a  net  income  of 
nearly  or  quite  a  million  and  a  half  more  from  the 
lands  remaining  to  be  sold.  Under  the  provis- 
ions of  law,  this  income  will  accrue  to  the  Massa- 
chusetts War  Loan  Sinking  Fund,  now  rapidly 
accumulating  the  amount  necessary  for  the  re- 
demption of  the  loan  for  which  it  stands  pledged. 

The  relations  of  the  Commonwealth  to  its  navi- 
gable waters,  and  to  the  tide-lands  both  above 
and  below  the  line  of  littoral  proprietorship,  are 
so  important,  so  manifold,  and  so  often  involve 
questions  requiring  a  technical  investigation,  that 
in  1866  they  were  placed  in  charge  of  the  Board 
of  Harbor  Commissioners.  Through  its  Advisory 
Council,  composed  of  eminent  engineers  and  men 
of  science  at  the  head  of  various  bureaus  in  the 
United  States  service,  this  Board  is  brought  into 
relations  with  the  general  government  in  a  man- 
ner most  favorable  to  harmonious  and  cooperative 
action  on  the  part  of  the  State  and  the  nation. 

The  subject  in  charge  of  this  Board,  of  most 
general  interest  to  the  people  of  the  Common- 
wealth, is  the  improvement  of  the  State  flats  in 
South  Boston.  In  1869  about  twenty-five  acres 
thereof  were  sold  to  the  Boston,  Hartford  and 
Erie  Railroad  Company  for  $545,505,  the  Cora- 


14  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

monwealth  taking  a  mortgage  back  for  the  pur- 
chase-money, and  the  company  stipulating  that  it 
would,  in  three  years,  enclose  them  with  a  wall, 
and  fill  them,  as  required  by  law,  with  material 
taken  from  the  harbor.  In  the  same  year  fifty 
acres  lying  beyond  and  adjoining  the  tract  sold  to 
the  Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie  Railroad  Company, 
were  sold  to  the  Boston  and  Albany  Railroad 
Company  for  f  435,000,  to  be  paid  in  three  years, 
the  flats  to  be  enclosed  and  filled  in  six  years,  and 
the  title  to  remain  in  the  State  until  the  flats  were 
filled.  In  consequence  of  the  failure  of  the  Boston, 
Hartford  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  the  work 
begun  on  its  flats  was  suspended  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  year  1870,  but  it  was  not  until  the  fourteenth 
day  of  December  last  that,  through  a  sale  under  its 
mortgage,  the  State  ^resumed  its  title  so  as  to  be  in 
a  situation  to  make  a  new  disposition  of  them. 
What  that  disposition  shall  be,  you  may  properly 
consider, — ^having  reference  not  only  to  the  con- 
dition of  the.  public  treasury  and  the  necessities 
and  convenience  of  Boston,  but  also  to  the  policy 
heretofore  pursued  in  respect  to  our  harbors  and 
tide-lands,  and  the  fact  that  the  adjoining  flats 
are  being  filled  by  the  corporate  owners  thereof. 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  15 

THE    LIQTJOE   LAW. 

^o  other  subject  of  State  legislation  has  so 
occupied  the  attention  of  the  people  and  so  forced 
itself  upon  the  consideration  of  the  General  Court 
for  the  past  forty  years,  as  the  use  and  sale  of 
intoxicating  liquors.  Each  successive  Legislature 
has  given  much  time  and  effort  to  the  solution  of 
the  problem  presented,  but  it  is  fair  to  say  that 
results  entirely  satisfactory  to  the  body  of  our 
citizens  have  not  yet  been  reached. 

The  depth  and  intensity  of  the  interest  they 
feel  in  the  matter  are  unmistakably  manifested. 
The  long  discussion  of  the  subject  has  not  been 
in  vain.  It  has  served  to  keep  the  public  mind 
alive  to  the  importance  of  the  issue,  and  has 
brought  us  into  substantial  concord  of  judg- 
ment on  many  specific  points.  We  are  gener- 
ally agreed  that  intemperance  causes  more  crime, 
poverty  and  suffering  than  all  other  vices  com- 
bined ;  and  it  seems  to  be  conceded  that  the 
people  of  the  Commonwealth,  as  a  whole,  are 
opposed  to  the  sale  of  distilled  spirits  as  a  bever- 
age. The  discussion  now  going  on  among  them 
has  reference  chiefly  to  the  sale  of  cider  and  malt 
liquors.    Many  who  acknowledge  that  public  senti- 


16  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

ment  is  hostile  to  the  sale  of  distilled  spirits  deny 
that  it  goes  so  far  as  to  condemn  the  tratfic  in  cider 
and  malt  liquors.  The  well-being  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, I  am  sure,  is  no  more  dear  to  me  than 
to  you ;  you  cannot  be  unmindful  of  the  most  fruit- 
ful source  of  sin  and  misery  within  our  borders. 
The  legislator  who  is  required  to  provide  means 
for  the  support  of  our  penal  and  reformatory  insti- 
tutions, and  thereby  to  increase  the  burden  of 
taxation  upon  his  constituents,  should  be  eagerly 
anxious  to  ascertain,  and  if  possible  remove,  the 
great  cause  rendering  these  institutions  a  necessity. 
We  rescue  the  weak  and  fallen  by  acting  on 
them  inwardly  or  outwardly.  We  must  either  re- 
move the  temptation  to  intemperance  or  give  them 
strength  to  withstand  its  direful  force.  We  must 
increase  the  power  of  resistance  or  diminish  the 
pressure  to  be  resisted.  Neither  of  these  means  of 
influence  can  be  omitted  without  detriment  to  the 
public  weal.  He  who  has  strength  of  will,  power 
of  self-control,  energy  of  spirit  to  meet  the  tempta- 
tions thrown  in  his  path,  is  always  armed,  always 
safe.  But,  imfortunately,  there  are  many  who  lack 
these  features  of  character, — the  moral  courage 
and  steadfastness  which  act  as  a  shield  against 
assaults  from   without.     Hence    the    necessity   of 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  17 

removing  as  far  as  possible  the  temptation  by 
preventing  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits. 

It  has  been  truly  said  that  what  it  is  wrong 
to  nse  as  a  beverage  it  is  wrong  to  sell  as  such. 
"What  the  highest  good  of  the  community  requires 
us  to  expel,  no  member  of  the  community  has  the 
right  to  supply.  Belief  in  the  principle  thus  an- 
nounced has,  to  a  gi'cater  or  less  extent,  governed 
the  action  of  our  General  Court  upon  this  subject 
for  the  last  twenty  years.  All  our  laws  regulating 
or  prohibiting  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  have 
been  based  on  the  idea  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
State  to  protect  its  citizens  from  the  assaults  of  the 
enemy.  The  assault  may  be  open  and  violent 
or  secret  and  noiseless.  It  may  bring  a  mere 
physical  evil  which,  though  severe,  the  lapse 
of  time  will  remove,  or,  what  is  far  more  to  be 
dreaded,  a  moral  evil  which  saps  the  very  founda- 
tions of  society,  spreads  contagion  far  and  wide, 
and  even  transmits  itself  to  posterity.  The  State 
has  so  often  asserted  and  reasserted  its  belief  in 
prohibition,  through  repeated  legislation,  that  if 
anything  is  to  be  taten  as  settled,  its  policy  on 
this  question  ought  to  be  regarded  as  determined. 

No  law,  however  perfect,  is  of  any  value  unless 
it  can  be  enforced.    A  defective  law,  thoroughly 


18  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

and  impartially  executed,  is  preferable  to  a  more 
stringent  one,  poorly  or  partially  administered.  I 
have  no  hesitancy  in  saying  that,  in  my  judgment, 
the  prohibitory  law  repealed  four  years  ago  was 
the  best  and  most  effective  we  have  ever  had  for 
the  suppression  of  the  liquor  traffic.  I  would  like 
to  see  it  restored  in  all  its  power  and  integrity  to 
our  statute  books,  and  rigidly  enforced  over  every 
foot  of  soil  in  the  Commonwealth.  Let  this  be 
done  and  crime  and  pauperism  would  be  reduced 
fifty  per  cent.,  a  great  burden  of  taxation  would  be 
removed  from  all  classes  of  citizens,  a  new  impetus 
would  be  given  to  every  branch  of  legitimate  in- 
dustry, a  heavy  weight  would  be  lifted  from  the 
hearts  and  hands  of  our  laboring  people,  and  a  most 
important  step  taken  toward  their  permanent 
elevation  and  improvement.  It  may  be  said  that 
public  opinion  was  opposed  to  this  law,  and  no  law 
can  be  sustained  and  made  to  operate  advanta- 
geously unless  it  receives  the  hearty  support  of  the 
people.  This  is  unquestionably  true.  But  may  not 
the  people,  for  some  cause,  at  times  be  persuaded, 
under  the  pressure  of  the  hour,  to  do  what  they  are 
satisfied,  on  calm  reflection,  was  a  mistake?  Ref- 
ormations do  not  move  backward,  though  for  the 
moment  they  may  appear  to  do  so.     The  present 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  19 

law. is  claimed  by  its  friends  to  be  better  than  any 
upon  the  subject  which  has  been  adopted  by  our 
sister  States.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  we 
have  always  occupied  advanced  ground  in  regard 
to  this  question.  We  arc  not  to  be  satisfied  with 
our  situation  simply  because  other  communities 
may  bo  in  a  worse  condition.  Our  constant  aim 
should  be  to  make  the  law  as  nearly  perfect  as 
possible.  And  whatever  the  law  for  the  time  be- 
ing, we  ought  to  be  careful  that  it  does  not  become 
a  dead  letter. 

There  is  an  opinion  somewhat  prevalent  that  the 
Executive,  if  so  disposed,  has  full  power  to  enforce 
the  law  now  on  our  statute  books.  Would  to  God 
his  arm  were  long  enough  and  strong  enough  to 
close  up  once  and  forever  every  liquor  shop  in  the 
entire  Commonwealth  so  efi*ectually  that  it  would 
be  necessary,  for  those  who  patronize  such  places, 
to  go  beyond  our  bounds  to  get  their  supply  of 
intoxicating  drink  by  whatever  name  designated! 
But  we  live  under  a  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment; the  one-man  power  is  not  in  accordance  with 
either  the  theory  or  the  spirit  of  our  institutions ; 
and  the  tendency  of  legislation  in  most  of  our  States 
for  the  last  few  years  has  been,  to  take  power  from 
the  Executive  and  leave  him  nothing  but  the  dig- 


2a  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

nity  of  his  office.  Of  this  I  do  not  complain.  But 
it  is  difficult  to  sec  why  responsibility  should  be  in- 
creased as  authority  is  diminished.  I  am  honestly 
and  conscientiously  in  favor  of  the  rigid  and  im- 
partial enforcement  of  the  liquor  law.  My  duty 
being  to  see  that  the  laws  are  faithfully  executed, 
I  could  make  no  exception  in  the  case  of  this 
particular  law.  But  were  it  otherwise,  the  lesson 
taught  by  our  recent  canvass  would  force  me  to  a 
stnct  and  careful  observance  of  its  provisions.  All 
parties  distinctly  declared  in  favor  of  its  enforce- 
ment,— the  violators  in  order  that  it  might  be  made 
80  odious  as  to  lead  to  its  repeal;  the  true  temper- 
ance men  in  order  that  the  tide  of  desolation  sweep- 
ing over  the  State  may  be  stayed.  I  see  no  reason 
why  this  general  desire  should  not  bo  gratified. 
But  may  there  not  be  a  mistaken  idea  in  the  public 
mind  as  to  the  extent  of  the  Governor's  authority 
in  respect  to  the  question  at  issue?  The  State  con- 
stabulary is  supposed  by  many  persons  to  be  under 
his  direct  control,  and  responsible  to  him  for  the 
faithful  performance  of  duty.  This  is  a  grave  error. 
An  officer  of  that  force  may  become  wholly  ineffi- 
cient, or  may  discharge  the  functions  of  his  position 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  render  the  law  needlessly 
•  odious,  yet  the  Executive  is  without  authority  to 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  ^ 

remove  him.  The  board  of  commissioners — very 
good  men  for  aught  I  know — ^have  the  sole  power  to 
create  and  destroy  every  member  of  this  arm  of  the 
government.  And  if  any  member  of  the  board  is 
found  unfit  for  the  place  he  holds,  or  is  unfaithful 
in  the  discharge  of  its  duties,  there  is  no  provision 
in  the  law  for  his  removal.  In  fact  the  Executive 
has  nothing  but  advisory  power  in  respect  to  the 
enforcement  of  this  law.  I  am  quite  willing  to  give 
the  advice  it  authorizes  me  to  give,  but  not  willing 
to  be  held  responsible  for  authority  the  Executive 
does  not  possess. 

Should  you  deem  it  expedient  to  retain  the  pres- 
ent law,  substantially  as  it  is,  on  the  statute  books, 
there  are  certain  amendments  I  would  suggest  for 
your  consideration.  Under  its  provisions  there  ia 
a  commissioner  to  buy  liquors  and  sell  them  to  town 
agents.  The  State  pays  the  incidental  expense  of 
carrying  on  the  business,  seven  per  cent,  on  the 
capital  invested,  and  an  annual  salary  of  four  thou- 
sand dollars  to  the  commissioner.  There  is  also  an 
assayer  and  inspector,  with  a  yearly  salary  of  three 
thousand  dollars,  whose  duty  it  is  to  assay  the 
liquors  of  the  commissioner  and  such  samples  as  the 
constables  take  from  the  town  agents.  The  com- 
missioner is  required  to  charge  five  per  cent,  above 


22  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

cost  for  liquors  sold,  and  to  pay  the  receipts  from 
this  percentage  into  the  State  treasury,  and  it  was 
expected  that  the  aggregate  would  meet  the  ex- 
penses of  the  agency.  But  manufacturers  may  sell 
domestic  liquors  for  certain  purposes  in  quantities 
not  less  than  thirty  gallons;  while  druggists  are 
also  authorized  to  sell  in  most  of  our  towns  for 
specified  purposes,  and  are  not  required  to  buy  of 
the  commissioner.  Hence  it  results  that  the  busi- 
ness of  the  State  agency  has  been  carried  on  at  a 
loss  to  the  Commonwealth,  during  the  past  year,  of 
about  eleven  thousand  dollars.  As  dniggists  and 
the  commissioner  purchase  their  liquors  of  import- 
ers, I  suggest  that  town  agents  be  allowed  to  do 
the  same,  and  that .  the  commissionership  be  dis- 
pensed with,  or  that  druggists  be  required  to  buy 
their  supplies  of  liquor  of  the  commissioner.  Should 
you  think  it  advisable  to  continue  the  office  of  State 
agent,  I  recommend  that  the  provisions  of  the  old 
law  be  revived,  and  that  the  commissioner  receive 
no  salary  from  the  State,  but  be  allowed  to  charge 
a  small  fixed  percentage  above  cost  on  his  sales, 
and  that  he  be  required  to  pay  the  compensation  of 
the  assayer,  to  the  end  that  there  shall  be  no 
expense  to  the  Commonwealth.  I  am  satisfied  a 
responsible  man  could  be  found  to  take  the  office 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  23 

under  this  arrangement,  who  would  give  satisfac- 
tory security  for  the  faithful  performance  of  his 
duties,  and  conduct  the  affairs  of  the  agency  on 
sound  and  approved  business  principles.  Perhaps 
it  might  be  well  to  require  druggists  and  town 
agents  to  pay  the  fees  for  assaying  the  liquors  in 
their  hands.  With  an  earnest  desire  that  whatever 
action  is  had  may  conduce  to  the  best  interests  of 
the  State  and  the  happiness  of  our  people,  I 
submit  the  matter  to  your  enlightened  judgment. 

THE   STATE   POLICE. 

The  report  of  Major  Edward  J.  Jones,  the  Con- 
stable of  the  Commonwealth,  with  accompanying 
statistics  exhibiting  in  detail  the  operations  of  his 
force  for  the  past  year,  as  also  the  report  of  the 
Police  Commissioners,  will  be  laid  before  you  in 
due  form.  The  great  majority  of  the  members  of 
the  constabulary  are  known  to  be  efficient  officers, 
faithful  and  conscientious  in  the  discharge  of  duty, 
whether  engaged  in  the  enforcement  of  a  particular 
law,  in  the  pursuit  and  arrest  of  reckless  and  des- 
perate offenders,  or  in  the  more  general  work  of 
preserving  peace  and  suppressing  crime.  There  is 
no  excuse  for  the  employment  of  any  but  good 
men  on  this  force.     The  compensation  is  ample 


24  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

to  command  such  as  can  be  relied  upon  in  every 
emergency.  The  force  is  altogether  too  small  for 
the  proper  performance  of  the  duty  required  of  it. 
No  reasonable  mind  ought  to  expect  that  seventy 
men  can  promptly  reach  every  violator  of  the  law, 
among  a  population  of  nearly  one  and  a  half 
millions,  scattered  over  such  an  area  as  that  of  our 
State.  If  it  is  desired  that  the  force  shall  really  be 
effective,  it  ought  at  least  to  be  increased  to  its 
former  strength  of  one  hundred  and  forty  persons. 
If  the  liquor  nuisances  of  the  State  are  to  be 
thoroughly  broken  up,  steps  must  be  taken  to 
make  the  business  unprofitable  as  well  as  dishonor- 
able. We  shall  not  be  able  to  report  satisfactory 
progress  while  prosecutions  are  so  rare  as  hereto- 
fore. The  execution  of  the  law  must  be  made 
certain  and  swift.  To  this  end  the  mere  handful 
of  men  in  the  constabulary  is  wholly  inadequate. 
The  aggregate  of  receipts  last  year  by  the  State 
and  counties  from  this  branch  of  the  public  service, 
over  and  above  expenditures,  was  upwards  of 
$100,000,  showing  that  in  a  pecuniary  point  of 
yiew  there  is  no  valid  reason  why  the  force 
should  not  be  placed  on  an  efficient  basis. 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  25 

WOMAN   SUFFRAGE. 

The  tendency  of  the  age  seems  to  be  toward  an 
extension  of  the  elective  franchise.  Until  recently, 
many  men  in  this  country,  because  of  their  color 
or  condition,  were  denied  the  privilege  of  voting. 
N^ow,  however,  nearly  every  male  citizen  who  has 
an'ived  at  the  years  of  manhood  enjoys  the  right 
to  the  ballot.  There  were  those  who  thought  the 
proposed  extension  of  suffrage  dangerous  to 
society,  and  therefore  opposed  it;  while  others 
yielded  their  assent  reluctantly,  believing  the  step 
a  necessity  to  the  prevention  of  a  greater  evil. 
The  result  has  proved  the  wisdom  of  the  measure. 
Ought  suffrage  to  bo  still  further  extended? 
"Would  society*  be  benefited  by  giving  it  to 
woman?  In  her  present  sphere  she  is  doing  a 
work  which  we  may  truly  say  is  invaluable.  Her 
influence  upon  the  community  in  which  she  moves, 
gentle,  but  far  more  powerful  for  good  than  man's, 
should  never  be  dispensed  with,  and  cannot  safely 
be  weakened.  If  she  takes  the  ballot  and  enters 
into  our  political  strifes  will  she  necessarily  be 
dragged  down  from  the  lofty  station  she  now 
occupies  as  a  moral  and  refining  force  in  the  Com- 
monwealth?   Numbers   of  those  in  whose  judg- 


26  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.       .  [Jan. 

ment  I  have  great  confidence  are  of  the  opinion 
that  she  will  not  only  be  able  to  maintain  her 
present  position,  but  do  much  to  purify  the  ballot- 
box,  clear  the  political  atmosphere,  and  soften  the 
asperities  of  political  strife.  Certainly  any  change 
holding  out  reasonable  promise  of  being  able  to 
effect  these  reforms  is  entitled  to  our  candid  con- 
sideration. 

While  I  have  many  misgivings  in  reference  to 
this  subject,  and  am  of  the  opinion  that  if  the 
decision  of  the  question  were  left  to  the  women 
themselves,  a  large  majority  of  those  in  this  State 
would  declare  against  the  change,  I  am  free  to  con- 
fess that  there  are  some  moral  issues,  vital  to  the 
well-being  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  in  the  solu- 
tion  of  which  woman  has  a  deeper  interest  than 
man,  upon  which  I  should  like  to  have  her  views 
expressed  in  a  more  direct  and  effective  manner 
than  is  possible  under  our  laws  as  they  now  stand. 
Her  special  mission  t^  mould  the  character  of  the 
young  and  prepare  tlfiem  lor  the  conflicts  of  the 
world,  renders  her  peculiarly  solicitous  that  snares 
and  temptations  may  be  removed  from  the  path 
of  life.  Therefore,  if  the  distinctive  principles 
of  the  present  liquor  law  are  to  be  retained  on 
our  statute  books,  I  would  suggest  the  eminent 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  27 

propriety  of  so  amending  that  act  as  to  permit 
women  to  vote  on  the  question  of  allowing  ale  or 
beer  to  be  sold  in  the  city  or  town  within  which 
they  reside.  In  this  way  alone  can  we  get  a  full 
expression  of  the  public  will  on  a  matter  of  the 
highest  concern  to  the  State  and  its  citizens.  Such 
a  course  would  give  both  the  advocates  and  oppo- 
nents of  woman  suffrage  an  opportunity  to  judge 
of  its  practical  workings,  and  thereby  the  Com- 
monwealth would  be  aided  in  its  endeavor  to 
reach  the  wisest  possible  adjustment  of  the 
pending  issue. 

THE   LABOR   QUESTIOI^r. 

I  commend  to  your  candid  and  cordial  con- 
sideration the  varied  interests  of  those  who  are 
denominated  the  laboring  portion  of  our  citizens. 
The  question  of  practical  concern  is  not  so  much 
whether  the  condition  of  this  class  is  better  or 
worse  here  than  in  other  sections  of  the  country, 
as  whether  that  condition  is  satisfactory, — whether 
it  is  what  it  might  be  made  by  honest  and  resolute 
endeavor,  what  it  should  be  made  by  those  who 
have  the  well-being  of  the  Commonwealth  deeply 
at  heart.  To  this  question  I  am  sure  no  one  will 
venture   an    affirmative   reply.      iN^either  is  it  of 


28  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

paramount  importance  to  determine  whether  the 
situation  of  this  large  body  of  persons  is  bettor  or 
worse  than  it  was  formerly.  Our  view. should  be 
forward  and  not  backward. 

Many  seem  to  hold  the  opinion  that  if  the 
working  men  and  working  women,  as  they  are 
commonly  designated,  receive  constant  employ- 
ment and  arc  adequately  remunerated;  if  they  gain 
the  needful  bread  and  meat  in  exchange  for  their 
labor;  if  they  have  comfortable  homes  and  enough 
for  the  decent  support  of  themselves  and  their 
families,  it  is  their  duty  to  be  therewith  content. 
But  this  is  a  narrow  judgment  of  the  matter  in 
issue.  They  ought  not  only  to  perform  their  daily 
tasks  faithfully,  but  bo  so  circumstanced  that  they 
will  perform  them  cheerfully.  In  so  far  as  lies 
within  our  power,  we  ought  to  remove  every  just 
cause  of  complaint.  Every  human  being  should 
have  higher  and  nobler  aspirations  than  merely  to 
provide  food  and  clothing  for  the  body.  This 
should  never  content  him.  The  head  of  a  family 
ought  to  have  time  for  study,  thought,  reading, 
recreation,  innocent  pleasure;  he  properly  desires 
to  give  his  children  a  better  education  than  he 
had,  and  furnish  them  advantages  superior  to  those 
he  himself  enjoyed. 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  29 

The  fact  that  there  is  unrest  and  dissatisfaction 
when  inan  is  confined  to  unremitting  toil,  is  one  of 
the  brightest  and  most  healthy  omens  of  the  times. 
It  is  an  indication  that  his  better  nature  is  strug- 
gling for  emancipation;  it  is  a  hopeful  sign  of 
finer  and  nobler  manhood  in  the  future.  Such 
efforts  for  improvement  should  never-  be  discour- 
aged, but  always  encouraged.  That  there  ever 
have  been  and  ever  will  be  grades  of  society,  is 
true  enough;  the  statesman  should  seek  to  dimin- 
ish the  distance  between  the  extremes  by  elevating 
the  lower.  It  has  been  said,  that  as  soon  as  the 
materials  for  the  construction  of  society  were 
brought  together  they  proceeded  forthwith  to 
arrange  themselves  in  layers, — ^the  strongei',  more 
nimble  and  more  cunning  of  the  living  constitu- 
ents climbing  to  the  higher  places,  and  forcing 
upon  those  below  the  office  of  upholding  them  in 
their  elevation.  As  the  pyramid  was  originally 
built,  so  it  remains  in  its  general  design.  Within 
the  heaving  mass  of  multitudinous  life  individual 
atoms  are  constantly  changing  places,  but  without 
destroying,  however  much  disturbing,  the  primi- 
tive distribution  into  layers.  These  are  still  dis- 
posed one  above  the  other,  in  a  gradually  diminish- 
ins:  series. 


80  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

It  is  so  natural  to  feel  that  what  always  has  been 
must  always  be,  that  we  are  too  apt  to  content 
ourselves  with  things  as  we  find  them.  But  this 
is  the  dictate  neither  of  wisdom  nor  of  prudence. 
Standing  still  is  not  the  province  of  society;  it 
must  cither  advance  or  retrograde.  Especially 
under  such  a  government  as  ours,  is  change 
almost  a  nonnal  condition  and  an  inherent  neces- 
sity. The  pyramid  continues  to  uplift  itself  as  an 
entirety;  but  atoms  in  the  bottom  layer  of  to-day 
may  be  in  the  top  layer  of  to-morr6w.  Hence  one 
reason  why  it  becomes  us  to  fairly  and  honestly 
examine  the  condition  of  the  laboring  classes, 
upon  whom  the  whole  superstructure  of  the  social 
organism  rests.  Because  they  are  a  part  of 
ourselves,  it  devolves  upon  us  to  relieve  them,  as 
far  as  possible,  from  the  grievances  to  which  they 
are  subjected.  Their  existence  is  not  separate 
from  the  existence  of  the  State;  what  tends  to 
their  welfare  is  calculated  to  promote  the  general 
welfare ;  in  the  last  analysis  their  interest  is  identi- 
cal with  the  interest  of  the  upper  classes;  the 
least  addition  to  their  comfort  is  a  gain  to  the 
whole  community;  and  if  their  case  is  considered 
in  the  right  spirit  there  is  no  good  cause  for 
antagonistic  feeling. 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  31 

The  question  raised  bj  them  and  in  their  l)chalf 
can  never  be  adjusted  by  the  two  extremes, — those 
anxious  to  secure  the  greatest  possible  amount  of 
pay  for  the  least  possible  work,  and  those  anxious 
to  obtain  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  work  for 
the  least  possible  pay.  i^Tor  will  relief  come  with 
the  determination  how  many  hours  shall  consti- 
tute a  legal  day's  work.  For  no  period  can  be 
fixed  which  should  be  applicable  alike  to  all.  The 
mgenious,  skilled  laborer  who  uses  mind  as  well 
as  muscle,  cannot  apply  himself  the  same  number 
of  hours  to  his  task  as  he  who  merely  handles  the 
hoe  or  shovel,  holds  the  plough  or  drives  the  oxen, 
uses  the  trowel  or  weaves  at  the  loom.  The  great 
desideratum  is  to  determine  what  would  be  a  fair 
division  of  profits  between  the  employer  and  the 
employe.  Settle  the  question  as  to  compensation 
per  hour,  and  there  will  be  no  serious  difiiculty 
about  the  number  of  hours. 

Let  us  not  expect  to  adjust  the  issue  confronting 
us  by  lecturing  the  laboring  classes.  "We  must  be 
willing  to  meet  them  on  their  own  ground  and 
discuss  the  matter  at  stake  from  their  point  of 
view.  We  must  not  only  believe  in  the  necessity, 
but  have  faith  in  the  practicability,  of  cultivating 
the  soil.     Plough  it  thoroughly,  enrich  it  as  may 


82  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

be  necessary,  prepare  it  to  the  utmost  for  an  abun- 
dant crop.  However  barren  it  may  appear  to 
superficial  observation,  it  is  capable  of  almost 
indefinite  improvement.  I  commend  to  your  ear- 
nest attention  the  results  which  may  be  wrought 
out  by  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor.  I 
doubt  not  you  will  welcome  any  and  every  fact 
tending  to  throw  light  upon  the  solution  of  this 
great  labor  problem.  A  subject  so  vital  to  the 
Commonwealth  as  the  question  whether  the  daily 
life  of  a  majority  of  its  citizens  can  be  enlarged 
and  improved,  must  not  be  ignored,  and  should 
receive  no  secondary  consideration  at  your  hands. 

THE  MILITIA. 

The  report  of  the  adjutant- general  shows  the 
militia  of  the  State  to  be  in  excellent  condition. 
The  number  of  men  in  camp  in  1871  was  5,362, 
represented  to  be  well  disciplined  and  prepared  for 
eflicicnt  service.  The  ordinary  expenses  of  the 
year  were  about  $106,000,  being  some  $30,000  less 
than  those  of  the  previous  year.  Prior  to  the  late 
war,  this  item  of  State  expenses  was  not  far  from 
$70,000  annually;  as  the  number  of  active  militia 
then  was  about  the  same  as  it  is  now,  the  difference 
in  the  expense  seems  quite  too  great.     Ten  or  twelve 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  38 

years  ago  the  towns  in  which  militia  companies 
were  organized  charged  little  or  nothing  for  the 
use  of  the  armories;  during  the  war  the  practice 
was  established  of  charging  a  high  price,  and, 
unfortunately,  it  has  been  continued  since  the 
return  of  peace.  This  is  wrong.  The  towns  in 
question  ought  to  feel  interested  enough  to  furnish 
a  room  for  the  use  of  the  militia  without  expense 
to  the  State.  The  Commonwealth  also  pays  the 
officers  and  men  of  the  force,  especially  those  of 
the  cavalry  branch,  at  a  much  higher  rate  than  it 
did  a  dozen  years  ago.  With  the  prices  that  now 
prevail,  and  the  increased  cost  of  almost  every- 
thing, this  to  a  considerable  extent  is  unavoidable; 
but  I  have  reason  to  believe,  from  official  informa- 
tion, that  the  expenses  can  be  reduced  some  fifty 
thousand  dollars  annually  without  impairing  the 
efficiency  of  the  force.  It  will  be  the  aim  of  the 
executive  department  to  do  whatever  is  practicable 
in  this  direction,  and  I  respectfully  commend  the 
force  and  its  interests  to  your  friendly  considera- 
tion. 

Connected  with  the  State  arsenal  property  at 
Cambridge,  there  appears  to  be  an  extensive  estab- 
lishment, built  up  during  the  war,  consisting  of  four 
large  buildings,  one  of  which  is  more  than  sufficient 


34  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

for  the  storage  of  all  the  military  property  of  the 
State  not  in  the  hands  of  the  militia.  The  annual 
cost  for  the  repairs  and  superintendence  of  this 
property  is  about  $5,000;  and  it  also  costs  over 
$2,500  yearly  for  the  transportation  of  camp  equi- 
page to  and  from  the  camping-grounds.  I  recom- 
mend the  sale  of  this  entire  estate  at  Cambridge, 
and  the  purchase  of  suitable  camping-grounds  at  a 
more  central  point,  on  which  a  small  building 
should  be  erected  for  the  storage  of  our  camp 
equipage,  thus  saving  the  annual  expense  of  trans- 
portation. The  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  the  Cam- 
bridge property  would  not  only  buy  and  prepare 
the  new  grounds  for  use,  but  would  also  give  a 
considerable  sum  of  money  to  the  public  treasury; 
and  I  am  convinced  that  the  Commonwealth  would 
be  a  gainer  in  many  ways  by  the  transaction. 

I  am  informed  that  $50,000  was  appropriated 
last  year  for  the  purchase  of  breech-loading  arms. 
As  no  expenditure  has  been  made,  and  as  the 
general  government  has  now  under  advisement 
a  plan  for  furnishing  the  militia  of  all  the  States 
with  a  uniform  arm  of  this  description,  I  sug- 
gest the  propriety  of  awaiting  the  action  of  the 
authorities  at  Washington. 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  35 

BAJJfKS   FOR   SAVINGS. 

The  number  of  savings  institutions  in  operation 
in  the  Commonwealth  is  one  hundred  and  sixty. 
Their  progress  and  increased  business  derive 
special  interest  from  the  fact,  that  their  deposits 
are  supposed  to  represent,  for  the  most  part,  the 
earnings  of  labor.  As  no  individual  is  allowed  by 
law  to  deposit  a  larger  sum  than  one  thousand 
dollars,  the  aggregate  of  deposits  and  depositors 
must  measurably  show  the  general  diffusion  of 
wealth.  The  whole  number  of  depositors,  accord- 
ing to  the  last  report,  is  560,890,  while  the  amount 
of  deposits  is  $163,535,943;  the  increase  of  de- 
positors during  the  past  year  was  82,093,  and  in 
the  deposits  it  was  |27,790,845.  These  figures 
would  appear  to  indicate  general  prosperity 
throughout  the  State  in  the  year  just  closed. 

Most  of  the  institutions,  so  far  as  I  am  informed, 
are  managed  in  a  very  safe  and  satisfactory  man- 
ner; though  I  think  it  questionable  whether  the 
widely-prevalent  ambition  to  divide  large  divi- 
dends is  not,  on  the  whole,  an  unfavorable  indica- 
tion. The  natural  tendency  is  to  diminish  the 
security  for  the  purpose  of  augmenting  the  divi- 
dend.      This    ambition    also   leads   to   a  practice 


36  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

delaying  the  progress  and  injuring  the  prosperity 
of  the  Commonwealth, — that  of  charging  too  high 
a  rate  of  interest  on  loans.  As  the  moneys  in 
these  institutions  are  principally  received  from  the 
middle  and  laboring  class  of  our  communities,  this 
class,  in  turn,  has  a  special  claim  upon  them  for 
loans  at  a  reasonable  figure.  This  portion  of  our 
population  should  be  encouraged  to  secure  homes 
for  themselves  and  their  families ;  and  they  cannot 
afford,  and  should  not  be  required,  to  pay  exorbi- 
tant rates  for  the  use  of  money  needful  to  the  gain- 
ing of  that  end.  I  see  no  reason  why  the  existing 
limitation  of  individual  deposits  to  one  thousand 
dollars  should  not  be  removed;  the  statute  provis- 
ion is  frequently  evaded  by  indirection,  and  one  of 
its  effects  is  to  drive  out  of  the  State  moneys 
which  otherwise  would  be  retained  at  home. 

It  seems  not  a  little  remarkable  that  it  should 
have  required  legislative  sanction  to  one  hundred 
and  sixty  different  Acts  to  bring  our  savings 
institutions  into  existence.  The  enactment  of  a 
general  law,  which  I  recommend,  would  obviate 
further  necessity  for  special  legislation  on  this 
head;  and,  if  carefully  drawn,  I  fail  to  see  how 
it  could  be  attended  with  any  undesirable  results. 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  8T 

RAILKOAD   LEGISLATIOI^". 

Beyond  the  passage  of  a  general  Act  of  incorpo- 
ration I  see  little  necessity  at  present  for  railroad 
legislation  at  this  session  of  your  honorable  bodies. 
The  main  railway  lines  of  the  State  are  complete, 
or  nearly  so,  and  their  latest  reports  indicate  that 
they  are  mostly  in  a  prosperous  condition.  When 
the  numerous  branch  or  neighborhood  roads  in 
process  of  construction  are  finished,  the  great 
majority  of  our  citizens  will  have  almost  at  their 
very  doors  means  of  steam  communication  with 
the  outside  world. 

That  railroads  have  added  largely  to  our  wealth, 
that  they  have  built  villages  and  towns  on  every 
hand,  that  they  have  promoted  business  enterprises 
and  developed  struggling  industries,  that  they  have 
quickened  the  life  and  stimulated  the  activity  of 
the  whole  Commonwealth,  and  that  in  all  this  there 
is  much  for  unstinted  praise  and  commendation,  no 
man  at  this  day  will  pretend  to  controvert.  Yet  it 
should  never  be  forgotten  that  railways  are  crea- 
tures of  the  State.  Extraordinary  powers  and 
privileges  have  been  granted  to  them,  not  to  be 
used  solely  for  their  own  benefit  and  aggrandize- 
ment, but  upon   conditions  and  with   restrictions 


88  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

which  make  them  in  a  measure  public  property,  and 
responsible  to  the  State  for  an  honest  and  faithful 
discharge  of  their  trusts.  Each  road  has  a  special 
mission  and  must  be  held  to  its  strict  fulfilment. 
It  is  under  obligation  to  furnish  the  best  possible 
facilities  for  the  accommodation  of  the  public  at 
the  lowest  possible  cost,  after  retaining  to  itself  a 
fair  compensation  above  expenses  for  the  use  of  its 
invested  capital.  Better  roads,  improved  accom- 
modations, and  cheaper  transportation  are  requisites 
of  the  hour.  That  the  railway  corporations  of  the 
State  may  be  enabled  to  respond  to  the  reasonable 
demand  of  the-  public  in  these  regards,  it  is  neces- 
sary that  they  should  be  wisely  economical  in 
expenditure  and  wisely  liberal  in  management.  It 
is  vitally  important,  not  less  to  their  future  than 
to  the  future  of  the  community,  that  they  encour- 
age local  business  along  their  lines  by  affording 
cheap  and  rapid  communication,  not  only  with  the 
markets,  but  also  with  the  points  supplying  raw 
material  used  in  manufactures  and  the  mechanic 
arts. 

The  aggregate  capital  of  the  railroads  within  the 
Commonwealth  is  not  far  from  fifty  millions  of  dol- 
lars. The  power  of  the  railway  interest,  already 
difficult  of  control,  yearly  becomes  greater.     The 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  3» 

manner  in  which  this  power  is  at  times  exercised 
is  suggestive  of  grave  dangers  against  which  we 
cannot  too  carefully  guard  the  honor  and  good 
name  of  Massachusetts.  Combinations  to  extend 
or  prevent  the  extension  of  an  old  road,  to  build  or 
prevent  the  building  of  a  new  one,  with  little  regard 
for  the  public  necessity  or  convenience,  have  be- 
come altogether  too  common.  Many  members  of 
recent  Legislatures  were  chosen  for  the  express 
purpose  of  favoring  or  opposing  certain  railway 
schemes.  Of  course  no  such  legislator  enters  upon 
his  duty  as  a  free  man.  Sent  to  these  chambers  by 
a  clique  for  a  specific  purpose,  whatever  else  he 
may  fail  to  do,  he  thinks  he  cannot  afford  to  disap- 
point the  expectations  of  those  to  whom  he  owes 
his  election,  and  to  their  will  he  sacrifices  his  inde- 
pendence as  a  citizen  and  his  duty  as  a  member  of 
the  legislative  body.  Bargains  outside  lead  to 
bargains  within  the  very  Legislature  itself,  and 
thence  follow  results  almost  invariably  detrimental 
to  the  public  welfare  and  debasing  to  the  public 
conscience.  One  of  the  worst  features  of  these 
combinations  is  that  they  draw  about  the  State 
House  a  class  of  persons  whose  presence  is  not 
desirable,  and  whose  influence  is  in  no  way  bene- 
ficial.    I  meet  you  here  to-day,  gentlemen,  in  the 


40  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

ardent  hope  that  your  labors  will  be  uninfluenced 
by  bargains  or  combinations  of  whatever  character. 
Pass  a  general  railroad  law,  sufficiently  well 
guarded  to  protect  the  rights  of  the  public,  so  that 
any  body  of  citizens,  under  proper  restrictions 
and  subject  to  the  approval  of  some  branch  of  the 
government,  may  organize  a  company  and  build 
a  railroad  without  the  necessity  of  coming  here 
for  an  Act  of  incorporation,  and  you  will  do  away 
with  many  of  the  evils  to  which  I  have  referred. 
Why  such  a  general  law  should  not  be  enacted  I 
confess  myself  wholly  unable  to  comprehend.  First 
and  last,  nearly  four  hundred  railway  charters 
have  been  granted  in  this  State,  or  more  than  one 
to  every  five  miles  of  railroad  ever  constructed 
within  our  limits.  The  Legislature  of  last  year 
passed  no  less  than  fifty-three  railway  enactments, 
of  which  fourteen  were  Acts  of  incorporation. 
The  passage  of  one  proper  general  law  would 
have  obviated  the  necessity  for  this  and  all  similar 
special  legislation.  A  railway  code  has  been 
enacted  in  nearly  every  important  State  but  our 
own,  and  experience  has  demonstrated  its  utility 
and  advantage  wherever  fairly  tried.  I  trust  a 
law  of  this  character  may  be  made  at  the  present 
session  of   your  honorable  bodies. 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  41 

The  report  of  the  Railroad  Commissioners  of  the 
State  will  be  laid  before  you  in  the  course  of  a  few 
weeks.  The  gentlemen  of  the  commission  seem  to 
me  to  be  rendering  useful  service  in  an  important 
work,  and  I  ask  your  serious  attention  to  the  mat- 
ters they  have  discussed  with  ability  and  foresight. 
The  memory  of  a  painful  casualty  near  Boston 
since  the  adjournment  of  the  last  General  Court 
will  give  force  to  their  suggestions  in  the  matter 
of  additional  precautions  against  railway  accidents. 
The  efforts  of  the  commissioners  to  obtain  from 
the  corporations  a  revision  of  transportation  tariffs 
have  been  rewarded  with  considerable  success ;  and 
I  think  we  may  reasonably  indulge  the  hope  that 
one  of  the  ultimate  results  of  their  labors  will  be  a 
better  understanding  between  the  people  and  the 
railroads. 

THE    TROY   AND    GREEKFIELD   ROAD. 

The  Hoosac  Tunnel  enterprise  has  been  prose- 
cuted diligently  during  the  past  year,  and  the  work 
is  now  progressing  to  reasonable  satisfaction. 
Although  up  to  this  date  the  Messrs.  Shanly  have 
not  made  the  full  advance  for  which  the  contract 
with  them  stipulates,  it  is  believed  their  facilities 
are  such  that  they  will  be  able  to  finish  the  Tunnel 


42  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

by  March,  1874,  the  limit  of  time  specified  in  the 
contract  for  its  completion.  "When  they  assumed 
management,  9,341  feet  had  been  opened;  to  the 
first  of  last  month  they  had  advanced  the  work  by 
7,737  feet,  and  there  then  remained  7,953  feet  to 
complete  the  undertaking.  But  as  they  have  fin- 
ished the  central  shaft  and  are  now  working  from 
four  instead  of  two  faces,  we  have  every  warrant 
for  expecting  much  more  rapid  progress  in  the 
fiiture  than  has  been  made  hitherto.  The  net  ex- 
penditure by  the  State  for  the  Tunnel  and  the  Troy 
and  Greenfield  Railroad  up  to  December  31,  1871, 
exclusive  of  the  interest  account  was  $6,335,332.30. 
It  is  highly  gratifying  to  those  who  from  the  first 
have  been  earnest  advocates  of  this  great  enter- 
prise, to  know  that  its  ultimate  and  speedy  comple- 
tion is  now  beyond  doubt  or  dispute.  It  can  no 
longer  be  looked  upon  as  a  financial  blunder  neces- 
sarily bringing  large  loss  to  the  Commonwealth. 
It  may  to-day  be  considered  a  grand  success, — 
whether  viewed  as  a  triumph  of  untiring  energy 
and  masterly  engineering  proficiency,  or  as  the 
opening  of  a  great  thoroughfare  by  the  shortest 
route  to  the  magnificent  granary  of  the  West  and 
Korth-west.  What  is  to  be  done  with  this  railway 
when  it  is  completed, — whether  it  shall  be  sold  out- 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  43 

right  if  a  satisfactory  price  is  offered,  leased  to 
some  other  road  or  roads  for  a  term  of  years,  or 
retained  and  operated  by  the  State,  are  questions  of 
much  importance  to  our  people.  The  execution  of 
the  vast  project  has  cost  so  much  of  time  and 
thought  and  money  and  patience,  that  we  cannot 
easily  be  overzealous  in  regard  to  its  fiiture,  nor 
can  we  afford  to  lose  any  of  the  benefits  legiti- 
mately to  be  derived  therefrom. 

That  the  State  itself  can  manage  a  railroad  more 
economically,  or  so  as  to  serve  the  public  better, 
than  private  corporations,  is  contrary  to  all  our 
experience.  As  long  as  political  parties  contend 
for  mastery,  and  the  spoils  are  claimed  by  the  vic- 
tors, we  must  refrain  from  committing  the  manage- 
ment of  our  railways  to  the  Commonwealth,  and 
leave  it  to  associations  of  persons  who  are  held 
responsible  to  the  State  for  the  faithful  discharge 
of  their  trusts.  But  whether  this  Troy  and  Green- 
field road  be  sold  or  leased,  the  State  should  never 
entirely  relinquish  control  of  the  same.  The  enter- 
prise was  undertaken  as  a  means  to  gain  cheaper 
and  quicker  communication  with  the  West.  We 
must  see  that  this  end  is  realized,  not  only  by  our 
chief  city  and  that  portion  of  the  State  contiguous 
to  the  line  of  the  road,  but  also  by  those  sections 


44  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

more  directly  tributary  to  other  roads  intersecting 
this  great  thoroughfare.  If  by  legislation  we  can 
afford  equal  opportunities  to  each  of  these  inter- 
secting lines,  they  in  turn  will  distribute  the  same 
to  the  people  of  their  respective  neighborhoods. 
Thus,  and  thus  only,  by  giving  and  maintaining 
equality  of  right  and  privilege  to  all  connecting 
roads,  can  the  State  at  large  derive  the  benefit  it 
should  from  the  completion  of  the  Tunnel. 

THE    STATE    CHAIIITIES. 

For  details  regarding  our  various  reformatory 
institutions  I  refer  you  to  their  respective  annual 
reports.  The  design  of  these  institutions  is  to 
train  up  children  whose  characters  are  not  formed, 
and  to  reclaim  and  save  those  who  have  fallen  into 
or  are  inclined  toward  a  vicious  way  of  life. 
Through  them  the  State  deals  directly  with  some 
3,600  children  every  year.  While  as  a  whole  they 
are  well  managed,  and  the  expense  of  the  reform- 
atory work  has  been  somewhat  diminished,  it  is 
thought  that  certain  changes  can  be  made  which 
will  promote  our  corrective  and  benevolent  ends, 
and  at  the  same  time  enable  us  to  effect  a  further 
material  reduction  in  the  aggregate  cost  of  what 
is  doing. 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  45 

The  Nautical  School  was  established  in  the 
belief  that  it  would  be  very  useful  in  forming  a 
good  class  of  sailors.  That  it  at  least  partially 
answered  this  expectation  while  the  war  furnished 
both  an  outlet  and  an  incentive  to  the  boys,  is  un- 
questionably true;  but  I  seriously  doubt  the  wis- 
dom or  expediency  of  continuing  the  school.  At 
the  date  of  the  last  report  144:  boys  were  on  the 
school  ship, — kept  there  at  an  expense  to  the  State 
nearly  twice  as  great  per  boy  as  is  incurred  for 
those  at  Westborough.  Ko  thorough  classification 
is  possible  on  board  the  ship,  and  the  very  vicious 
and  comparatively  good  are  necessarily  crowded 
together.  They  cannot  be  kept  at  study  all  the 
time;  there  is  little  opportunity  to  do  anything 
else;  and  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  provide  them 
with  suitable  work.  The  system  does  not  tend  to 
reformation  so  much  as  the  Westborough  system. 
Few  of  the  boys  are  willing  to  go  to  sea,  and 
steam  navigation  having  to  so  great  an  extent 
superseded  the  necessity  for  sailing  vessels,  there 
is  not  much  demand  for  them.  During  the  past 
year  only  29  were  shipped,  of  whom  11  were 
placed  in  the  revenue  service,  from  which  most  of 
them  promptly  deserted.  It  is  manifestly  unwise 
to  expend  considerable  sums  in  fitting  boys  for  a 


46  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

calling  which  they  are  not  to  pursue,  and  I  there- 
fore recommend  that  early  provision  be  made  for 
the  close  of  the  school  and  the  sale  of  the  school 
ship. 

The  State  almshouses  at  Monson  and  Bridge- 
water  have  been  of  little  use  the  past  few  years  in 
caring  for  the  poor  of  the  Commonwealth.  There 
are  but  66  at  Monson  and  85  at  Bridgewater, 
according  to  the  last  reports,  and  a  large  propor- 
tion of  these  are  mere  boys  and  girls.  The  State 
poor  of  the  class  recently  at  these  two  points  can 
be  supported  at  less  expense  in  the  communities  to 
which  they  belong,  and  certainly  it  would  be  far 
more  agreeable  to  them  and  their  families  to  be 
provided  for  in  that  manner.  I  do  not  see  any 
valid  objection  to  the  change  thus  suggested,  and 
therefore  I  recommend  the  discontinuance  of  the 
almshouses  at  Monson  and  Bridgewater. 

The  Commonwealth  greatly  needs  a  reformatory 
for  boys  and  girls  over  sixteen  years  of  age.  We 
have  nothing  whatever  for  erring  girls  of  this  class 
but  jails  and  houses  of  correction;  and  nothing 
for  boys  of  the  same  class  except  that  a  few  of 
those  between  sixteen  and  eighteen  may  be  sent  to 
the  school  ship.  Hundreds  of  youths  of  both 
sexes  go  to  destruction  every  year  simply  because 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  47 

we  are  without  means  for  their  temporal  salvation. 
The  Reform  School  at  Westborough  provides  for 
boys  under  sixteen,  as  the  Industrial  School  at 
Lancaster  does  for  girls  under  that  age.  Having 
advised  the  breaking  up  of  the  JS^autical  School 
and  the  almshouses  at  Monson  and  Bridgewater,  I 
suggest  to  your  serious  attention  the  expediency 
of  providing  at  Monson,  if  it  cannot  be  done  at 
Lancaster,  for  the  older  girls  guilty  of  minor 
offences,  and  at  Bridgewater  for  a  similar  class  of 
boys,  as  well  as  for  those  now  on  the  school  ship, 
most  of  whom  are  over  sixteen.  I  am  fully  satis- 
fied that  by  using  buildings  already  constructed 
the  changes  I  suggest  could  be  carried  out  with 
very  little  expense  to  the  State,  and  that  it  would 
be  pecuniarily  the  gainer  in  the  end,  if,  as  certainly 
should  be  done,  work  is  provided  at  Bridgewater 
for  the  boys  and  young  men  sent  there.  The  new 
institutions  might  soon  be  made  almost  or  wholly 
self-sustaining,  and  they  would  prove  to  be  reform- 
atories in  the  best  sense,  by  furnishing  juvenile 
offenders  a  chance  to  learn  useful  and  remunera- 
tive trades,  through  which  they  could  earn  an 
honest  livelihood  when  restored  to  society  and  the 
world.  I  press  this  matter  upon  your  sympathetic 
deliberation,  convinced  that  the  time  is  ripe  for  the 


48  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

action  recommended,  and  with  assured  faith  that 
the  adoption  of  the  policy  thus  indicated  will 
result  in  the  saving  of  many  young  men  and 
young  women  annually  lost  in  the  vortex  of  sin, 
chiefly  because  there  is  no  hand  to  guide  them 
with  tender  regard  into  the  paths  of  virtue. 

The  State  visiting  agency  was  established  in  the 
summer  of  1869  for  the*  special  purpose  of  looking 
after  vicious  and  dependent  children  who  had 
already  come  under  the  care  of  the  Commonwealth 
or  were  candidates  for  its  corrective  custody.- 
That  it  has  been  of  abundant  and  excellent  service 
in  its  legally  designated  field  of  operations,  is  beyond 
candid  question.  Through  the  efforts  of  the  visit- 
ing agent  the  commitments  to  our  reformatory 
institutions  have  been  materially  diminished.  He 
has  provided  homes  for  some  fifteen  hundred  chil- 
dren in  good  families,  where  they  are  surrounded 
by  influences  promotive  of  honor  and  integrity. 
By  this  arrangement  the  saving  of  expense  to  the 
State  is  great,  while  the  advantage  to  the  children 
cannot  be  computed  in  figures. 

A  stranger  undertaking  to  study  the  workings 
of  our  charitable,  reformatory  and  correctional 
system,  must  be  surprised  to  learn  how  many 
advisory  and  supervisory  boards  and  agents  of  one 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  49 

sort  or  another  are  connected  therewith.  He  finds 
that  each  institution  has  its  superintendent  or  gen- 
eral manager,  with  a  board  of  trustees,  overseers 
or  inspectors,  and  perhaps  an  advisory  board  in 
addition^  that  there  are  also  general  agents  whose 
duty  seems  to  be  to  look  after  the  management  of 
the  various  separate  institutions;  and,  finally,  gen- 
eral boards  or  commissions  whose  duties  are  not 
very  clearly  defined,  though  they  appear  to  have 
supervisory  powers  within  certain  limitations. 
Thus  connected  more  or  less  directly  with  the 
higher  branches  of  this  work  he  ascertains  that 
there  are  upwards  of  twoscore  boards  and  agents, 
most  of  them  responsible  to  no  particular  head, 
widely  differing  in  view  as  to  plans  of  administra- 
tion, frequently  clashing  as  to  their  respective 
rights  and  jurisdiction.  He  sees  a  system,  built  up 
from  time  to  time  as  the  necessity  of  the  case  re- 
quired, and  observes  that  it  was  natural,  as  each 
institution  came  into  being,  to  appoint  a  board 
charged  with  its  interests ;  but  now  that  the  system 
has  come  measurably  near  completion,  when  the 
paramount  object  of  solicitude  should  be  to  unify 
and  perfect  it  as  a  whole,  devising  and  introducing 
into  each  department  the  best  possible  plan  for  the 
accomplishment  of  the  work  in  hand,  he  is  at  a  loss 


50  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

to  understand  why  it  is  thought  necessary  to  have 
so  many  separate,  semi-independent  officers  and 
organizations  to  bring  about  the  end  which  the  sys- 
tem obviously  seeks.  He  cannot  comprehend  why 
that  end  would  not  be  reached  more  surel}^  more 
economically,  more  expeditiously,  with  less  friction 
and  less  embarrassment  of  administration,  by  giv- 
ing one  board  absolute  control  of  the  whole,  with 
•  direct  responsibility  to  the  Executive  or  the  Legis- 
lature for  the  detail  as  well  as  for  the  principles  of 
management.  "With  the  limited  opportunity  I  have 
had  for  looking  into  this  matter,  I  confess  that  I 
am  unable  to  see  why  some  change  ought  not  to  be 
made,  looking  to  the  unification  and  simplification 
of  our  reformatory  system,  and  the  reduction  in 
number  of  our  boards  and  commissions,  whence 
would  follow  a  decrease  in  our  annual  expenditures 
under  this  head.  By  virtue  of  my  office  I  shall  be 
brought  into  intimate  relations  with  these  institu- 
tions during  the  year,  and  it  will  be  my  aim  to 
study  their  management  more  thoroughly  and  to 
ascertain  what  means  can  be  devised  for  increasing 
their  efficiency  and  diminishing  their  expense. 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  51 

SCHOOL   MATTERS. 

The  annual  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Board 
of  Education  will  be  laid  before,  you,  and  I  direct 
your  attention  to  the  suggestions  and  recommen- 
dations of  that  officer.  The  standing  and  charac- 
ter of  a  community  are  determined  in  no  small 
degree  by  its  school  privileges.  Happily  in  this 
Commonwealth  the  supreme  importance  of  educa- 
tion was  early  understood;  our  common-school 
system  is  a  thing  to  contemplate  with  pride  and 
uphold  with  steady  hopefulness.  That  was  a 
grand  idea, — the  rendering  it  possible  for  every 
child  in  the  State  to  receive  a  free  education;  and 
no  investment  of  our  revenues  has  ever  proved 
more  profitable  than  that  made  in  common  schools. 
We  cannot  too  carefully  watch  these  schools,  can- 
not too  earnestly  labor  for  their  improvement. 
The  future  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  Common- 
wealth are  dependent  upon  them;  if  they  are 
suffered  to  languish  the  State  will  inevitably  retro- 
grade; if  they  are  kept  in  a  thriving  condition 
the  State  will  just  as  inevitably  advance  to  new 
conquests. 

Through  the  untiring  efforts  of  the  secretary 
there  has  been  healthy  and  regular  progress  in  the 


52  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

right  direction.  Improved  school-houses  in  every 
quarter  are  an  indication  of  the  popular  feeling. 
The  demand  for  more  thorough  and  comprehensive 
teaching  proves  that  at  least  a  portion  of  our  citi- 
zens appreciate  the  necessity  of  going  forward  if 
we  would  continue  to  occupy  a  position  in  the  front 
rank.  The  success  of  the  IN^ormal  Schools,  estab- 
lished to  meet  the  pressing  need  for  a  higher  class 
of  instructors,  and  especially  the  recent  call  for  an 
increase  in  the  number  of  these  schools,  shows 
that  there  is  a  growing  desire  to  raise  the  standard 
of  education.  And  yet,  notwithstanding  these 
cheering  signs  of  the  times,  I  am  fully  peisuaded 
that  our  educational  affairs  are  too  much  left  to 
the  management  of  the  few.  There  is  not  that 
universal  interest  in  the  schools  and  the  school 
system  which  ought  to  obtain.  If  we  are  to  have 
model  schools  in  a  given  town  it  will  be  because 
the  people  of  that  town  determine  to  make  them 
wich.  They  will  neither  come  of  themselves  nor 
through  the  sole  endeavors  of  two  or  three  indi- 
viduals. Good  teachers  and  good  methods  of 
instruction  are  requisite  to  the  end  in  view,  but 
these  agencies  can  accomplish  nothing  more  than 
partial  results  if  the  practical  interest  of  the  people 
themselves  is  wanting. 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  '  53 

The  salient  features  of  our  educational  reports 
for  the  past  year  are,  that  the  aggregate  of  expen- 
ditures in  behalf  of  public  schools  was  $3,272,335, 
exclusive  of  |1,712,073  expended  in  erecting 
school-houses,  and  that  of  278,249  children  in  the 
Commonwealth  between  the  ages  of  five  and  fifteen 
years,  273,661  were  connected  with  the  schools. 
That  we  expend  over  five  million  dollars  annually 
for  popular  education,  and  that  all  our  boys  and 
girls  but  4,588  are  more  or  less  constant  in  attend- 
ance upon  the  public  schools,  testifies  to  a  condition 
of  things  rich  in  promise  for  the  future  standing  of 
Massachusetts.  What  progress  we  are  making 
will  be  shown  by  reference  to  past  years, — say  to 
1858,  when  with  223,304  children,  our  public-school 
expenses  were  $1,474,488.  In  other  words,  for  the 
six  dollars  and  sixty  cents  devoted  to  each  child  in 
the  State  thirteen  years  ago,  we  now  cheerfully 
spend  eleven  dollars  and  seventy-five  cents. 

The  career  of  our  Agricultural  College  has  been 
observed  with  no  ordinary  interest.  The  school 
was  at  first  looked  upon  by  some  of  the  wisest  and 
most  sanguine  fnends  of  liberal  education  as  a 
doubtful  experiment.  Several  institutions  of  the 
kind  organized  in  other  States  had  either  wholly 
failed  or  met  with  indifferent  success,  and  the  wis- 


64   *  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

dom  of  undertaking  to  furnish  scientific  education 
to  young  men  intending  to  be  farmers  was  widely 
questioned.  The  school  has  justified  the  faith  of 
those  who  favored  its  organization,  and  now  is 
generally  admitted  to  be  one  of  the  most  valuable 
institutions  in  the  State.  The  course  of  instruc- 
tion pursued  there  is  thorough  and  comprehensive, 
and,  as  each  student  is  required  to  perform  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  out-door  labor  every  working-day, 
all  who  take  the  course  gain  a  practical  as  well  as 
a  theoretical  knowledge  of  farming.  This  institu- 
tion is  conceded  by  those  competent  to  form  an 
opinion  to  be  one  of  the  best  of  its  class  in  the 
country.  That  it  is  so,  is  greatly  owing  to  the  rare 
energy  and  well-directed  labors  of  its  officers,  who 
have  omitted  nothing  of  effort  or  sacrifice  in  its 
behalf  to  make  it  a  model.  It  is  crowded  with 
students  and  prosperous  to  a  remarkable  degree, 
and  has  already  become  a  source  of  just  pi*ide  to 
the  Commonwealth. 

^one  of  us  can  be  unmindful  of  the  growing 
desire  among  the  women  of  the  State  for  greater 
and  improved  educational  privileges.  After  what 
has  already  been  said  on  the  general  subject  of 
education,  I  hardly  need  add  that  their  demand 
for  enlarged  opportunity  has  my  sympathy.     I  am 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  55 

not  able  to  see  why  the  intellect  of  the  one  sex  is 
more  entitled  than  that  of  the  other  to  culture  and 
streugthening.  I  do  not  insist  that  the  course  of 
instruction  for  young  women  should  be  like  that 
laid  down  in  our  best  colleges  for  young  men,  but 
it  ought  not  in  any  respect  to  be  inferior,  and  the 
facilities  for  study  offered  to  the  first-named  ought 
to  be  as  good  as  those  enjoyed  by  the  last-named. 
It  is  gratifjang  to  know,  therefore,  that  there  will 
ere  long  be  opened  at  Northampton,  a  woman's 
college  of  the  highest  and  most  liberal  grade, 
founded  on  the  noble  bequest  of  the  late  Sophia 
Smith,  of  Hatfield,  who  left  about  four  hundred 
thousand  dollars  for  building  and  carrying  on  such 
an  institution. 

"While  general  education  has  received  much 
attention  and  encouragement  from  the  State,  tech- 
nical education  has  been  almost  wholly  neglected. 
We  shall  not  reach  our  highest  development  as  a 
Commonwealth  until  our  elementary  and  classical 
schools  arc  supplemented  by  institutions  for  in- 
struction in  the  industries  on  which  our  prosperity 
so  largely  depends.  Of  our  present  population 
probably  two-thirds  are  engaged  in  mechanical  or 
manufacturing  pursuits  or  dependent  upon  those  so 
engaged.    The  State  has  established  an  agricultural 


66  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

college  for  her  farmers,  and  from  the  beginning  of 
her  history  has  dealt  generously  with  such  of  her 
sons  as  aspired  to  knowledge  of  the  higher 
branches  of  learning,  but  has  done  little  for  the 
education  of  her  mechanics  in  their  particular  field 
of  labor.  Her  duty  to  encourage  and  promote  the 
special  education  of  these  classes  rests  upon  two 
grounds:  first,  the  welfare  of  the  individuals 
directly  concerned;  and,  second,  the  preservation 
of  our  manufacturing  supremacy.  A  great  part  of 
the  work  of  many  manufacturing  establishments  is 
so  dependent  upon  scientific  attainment,  that  it 
must  ultimately  take  rank  as  a  learned  pro- 
fession. !N^ot  only  is  a  knowledge  of  chemistry, 
and  a  somewhat  extended  acquaintance  with 
mathematics,  highly  desirable  to  the  mechanic  who 
aims  at  an  advanced  position  in  his  trade,  but 
skill  in  drawing  is  universally  important  and  valu- 
able, and  it  is  with  pleasure  that  I  notice  the  intro- 
duction of  teachers  of  drawing  into  some  of  our 
public  schools.  Such  is  our  distance  both  from  the 
raw  material  and  from  the  market,  and  such  is 
the  competition  we  have  to  maintain,  not  only 
with  the  pauper  labor  of  Europe,  but,  in  the  near 
future,  with  the  growing  industries  of  the  West, 
that  we  can  safely  neglect  no  means  calculated  to 


1872.]  ■  SENATE— No.  1.  57 

give  the  labor  of  coming  generations  high  pro- 
ficiency. That  technical  education  is  a  necessity 
to  this  end  the  recent  experience  of  European 
countries  abundantly  testifies,  as  will  readily  be 
found  by  any  one  who  chooses  to  investigate  the 
subject.  I  should  rejoice  to  see  institutions  for 
instraction  in  mechanical  specialties  founded  at 
all  our  manufacturing  centres.  The  school  at 
Worcester  may  be  indicated  as  a  type  of  the 
class  which  we  need.  In  my  judgment,  the  State 
should  very  cautiously  give  its  aid  toward  the 
establishment  of  these  schools,  and  only  when  the 
communities  in  which  they  are  to  be  located  will 
themselves  subscribe  the  chief  part  of  the  cost. 


LEGISLATIVE   REFORM. 

The  unusual  and  unprecedented  length  of  our 
legislative  sessions  during  recent  years  has  excited 
the  wonder  of  other  States  and  received  the  general 
condemnation  of  the  people  of  our  own.  Can  this 
evil,  acknowledged  to  be  such  by  all  parties,  by  any 
means  be  overcome?  Assembled  here  as  the  ser- 
vants of  the  people,  you  are  expected  to  transact  all 
legitimate  business  that  may  come  before  you.  The 
fact  that  the  people  themselves  are  in  a  great  de- 


58  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

gree  responsible  for  the  multiplicity  of  measures 
forced  upon  consideration  at  each  successive  ses- 
sion does  not  seem  to  be  a  satisfactory  answer  to 
their  complaint  on  this  head.  The  public  con- 
tinually asserts  that  the  Legislature  is  to  blame  for 
the  long  sitting.  It  is  for  us  to  consider  if  a  remedy 
can  be  found  for  the  grievance  of  which  so  much  is 
said. 

Many  laws  crudely  drawn  and  hastily  acted  upon 
are  passed  at  one  session,  only  to  be  materially 
modified  or  wholly  repealed  at  the  next.  Thus  our 
code  becomes  encumbered  with  obsolete  or  worth- 
less statutes,  and  our  business  relations  are  dis- 
turbed and  embarrassed  without  corresponding 
good.  Important  Acts  which  have  received  the 
construction  of  the  courts  and  become  thoroughly 
understood  by  the  people,  are  suddenly  swept  from 
the  books  because  of  some  assumed  or  supposed 
defect,  or  by  reason  of  prejudice  in  the  minds  of  the 
few,  and  their  places  supplied  with  new  Acts,  speed- 
ily passed,  which  upon  trial  are  found  unequal  to 
the  accomplishment  of  what  was  desired.  Hence 
it  arises  that  one  Ijegislature  is  continually  undoing 
what  a  former  one  did.  The  grievance  as  to  this 
particular  point  can  be  cured  in  but  one  way :  law- 
makers should  not  consent  to  changes  in  existing 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  69 

statutes  till  they  are  clearly  called  for  by  the  public 
welfare,  and  proposed  changes  should  not  be 
adopted  until  it  is  evident  that  they  will  be  benefi- 
cial. So  far  as  is  possible  we  should  avoid  experi- 
mental legislation. 

At  the  beginning  of  each  session  the  general  sen- 
timent among  the  members  is  in  favor  of  a  short 
term.  Yery  little  of  what  they  are  required  to  do 
is  accomplished,  however,  during  the  first  four  or 
six  weeks.  The  time  occupied  by  the  Legislatures 
of  many  States  in  completing  their  work,  is  spent 
by  ours  fruitlessly,  and  when  we  ought  to  be  about 
ready  to  adjourn  we  are  only  ready  to  enter  upon 
the  important  measures  before  us.  "While  it  is 
neither  my  province  nor  my  desire  to  interfere  with 
either  the  appointment  or  the  labors  of  the  commit- 
tees of  your  honorable  bodies,  yet  may  I  not  sug- 
gest that,  if  the  several  chairmen  would  be  prompt 
in  organizing  their  respective  committees,  and  if 
each  member  would  feel  a  personal  responsibility  to 
give  his  time  and  energy  to  the  special  work  he  is 
selected  to  perform,  there  would  not  be  such  a 
waste  of  days  and  weeks  as  there  now  is?  This 
course  of  action  would  enable  the  various  commit- 
tees to  make  an  early  presentation  of  the  results  of 
their  labors  to  their  respective  bodies;  and  thus  we 


60  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

should  avoid  the  crowding  of  important  business 
into  the  last  hours  of  the  session  and  the  crude  leg- 
islation inevitably  consequent  upon  such  procedure. 
But  especially  would  I  urge  upon  you  the  merits 
of  general  as  opposed  to  special  laws.  The  need 
of  reform  in  this  respect,  becomes  more  imperative 
yearly.  There  is  a  growing  disposition  in  the 
public  mind  against  the  granting  of  special  privi- 
leges to  the  few,  and  in  favor  of  such  a  system  of 
legislation  and  administration  as  will  bear  upon 
and  benefit  all  alike.  When  our  population  was 
small,  special  laws  were  to  some  extent  a  necessity^ 
But  the  great  I  changes  which  have  taken  place  in 
the  last  twenty  years,  through  the  multiplication  of 
railroads,  the  increase  in  means  of  various  kinds 
for  intercommunication,  the  introduction  of  new 
and  the  extension  of  old  industries,  the  enlarge- 
ment of  our  social  and  business  duties  and  privi- 
leges, the  development  of  wants  and  necessities,  of 
cares  and  responsibilities,  the  widening  and  inten- 
sifying of  thought  and  action  consequent  upon  the 
daily  use  of  steam  and  electricity  and  machinery, 
the  extraordinary  duplication  of  ties  whereby  we 
are  brought  into  relations  with  other  communities, 
— all  this  renders  it  necessary  that  you  should  take 
a  larger  view  of  your  duty  as  legislators  than  was 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  61. 

required  of  your  predecessors  of  twenty  or  thirty 
years  ago.  Special  legislation  is  not  merely  expen- 
sive to  the  State  and  wasteful  of  your  time  here ; 
it  provokes  local  strifes,  disturbs  neighborly  good- 
fellowship,  creates  jealousies  between  adjoining 
towns  and  villages,  belittles  the  character  of  our 
legislation,  and  introduces  elements  of  corruption 
into  public  life.  In  treating  of  our  railroads  and 
savings  banks,  I  have  already  expressed  the  hope 
that  you  will  pass  general  laws.  My  desire  in  this 
regard  extends  to  all  branches  of  civil  administra- 
tion to  which  the  application  of  this  principle  is 
possible.  The  enactment  of  general  codes  would 
shorten  our  legislative  sessions,  simplify  our 
methods  of  government,  and  be  of  incalculable 
advantage  to  the  Commonwealth. 

The  daily  expense  of  the  Legislature  is  at  least 
two  thousand  dollars.  If  by  any  means  the  length 
of  the  session  could  be  reduced  from  five  months 
to  two  months  the  saving  to  the  State  would  be 
more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars. 
Or,  if  it  be  urged  that  the  salary  of  members  is 
not  affected  by  the  length  of  the  session,  still  as 
that  is  only  about  half  the  aggregate  expense,  the 
saving  would  be  not  less  than  seventy-five 
thousand   dollars.     This   is   a  retrenchment  com- 


62  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS.  [Jan. 

mencing  at  our  own  doors  which  it  is  well  worth 
while  to  make  if  possible,  In  several  States  con- 
taining a  population  nearly  as  large  as  ours, 
and  a  breadth  of  territory  much  larger,  there  are 
only  biennial  legislative  sessions  constitutionally 
limited  to  sixty  days,  while  in  our  largest  States, 
such  as  'New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  the  sessions 
are  not  allowed  to  extend  beyond  one  hundred 
days.  In  fact,  there  is  scarcely  a  State  of  the 
Union  beside  our  own  in  which  the  legislative 
sitting  is  more  than  one  hundred  days,  even  when 
confined  to  biennial  or  triennial  terms.  Whether 
the  work  before  you  can  properly  be  done  in  the 
two  months  I  have  suggested,  depends  almost 
entirely  upon  your  own  fidelity  and  determination. 
Resolve  to-day  that  it  shall  be  done,  and  I  see  no 
reason  why  it  may  not  be  accomplished.  'No  effort 
of  mine  shall  be  wanting  to  consummate  this  most 
desirable  result. 

Senators  and  Representatives : 

1  enter  upon  the  duties  of  the  Executive  office 
with  deep  solicitude  for  the  interests  of  the  Com- 
monwealth. In  the  candor  which  I  feel  due  to  you 
and  the  occasion,  I  commit  these  inquiries  and  sug- 
gestions to  your  wise  and  generous  consideration. 


1872.]  SENATE— No.  1.  63 

The  people  expect  us  to  consecrate  our  best  en- 
deavors to  their  service.  Let  us  so  discharge 
every  trust,  that  when  called  upon  to  render  an 
account  of  our  stewardship,  we  may  possess  the 
consciousness  that  we  have  been  faithful  servants. 


IIC^R  I IRRARV 


